SACRAMENTO - Alarmed that political groups are secretly funding bloggers to promote or attack candidates, the state's ethics czar proposed Thursday that Web-based pundits disclose such payments. Voters are increasingly relying on bloggers and websites for information on political issues and have a right to know if an interested party is paying to plant messages, said Ann Ravel, who heads California's political watchdog agency. "In order for people to really know whether they can have faith and trust in the independence of recommendations they are receiving, they have to be aware" of any payments, she said.

May 29, 2011 | By Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Special to the Los Angeles Times

Before its launch a few weeks ago, frenzied reports of the coming of xoJane.com had the same gossipy, mythic quality that accompanied James Franco's academic career or, say, the birth of Shiloh Jolie-Pitt: confusion, rumor and a little cattiness. It isn't surprising that the website's launch was greeted with such mixed feelings, because it's the new online women's magazine from Jane Pratt aimed at the audience that she helped raise, first as founder of the teen magazine Sassy in 1988 and then of Jane magazine, aimed at the 18-34 market, in 1997.

This summer Molly Ringwald said that she read "Fifty Shades of Grey" because "when a book becomes that big, I feel like it's culturally relevant. " No book in recent memory has sold as fast as the lead title of E.L. James' erotic trilogy. It enjoyed an avalanche of popularity: The more people were reading it, the more other people wanted to read it. But "Fifty Shades" is the exception: Today it's easier than ever to find something to read. But the right thing? That's another matter altogether.

On most days, Andrea Deckard can be found in her home office, digging through stacks of coupons and grocery receipts for money saving tips and recipes that she can share with readers of her Mommy Snacks blog. That is, when the stay-at-home mom isn't being wined and dined by giant food companies. Earlier this year, Frito-Lay flew her to Los Angeles to meet celebrities such as model Brooke Burke and the Spice Girls' Mel B, while pitching her on its latest snack ad campaign. More recently, Nestle paid to put her and 16 other so-called "mommy bloggers" -- and one daddy blogger -- up at the posh Langham Huntington hotel in Pasadena, treated them to a private show at the Magic Castle in Hollywood and sent packages of frozen Omaha Steaks to their families to tide them over while the women were away learning all about the company's latest product lines.

For singles who brave the jungles of online dating, there's nothing like an experienced friend or two to offer advice. "Should I Photoshop out my Marilyn Monroe mole?" "What does it mean that her favorite movie is 'The Exorcist'?" "Do my smoldering eyes in this profile photo say, 'I'm yours' or 'I'm in pain?'" Now imagine you had a few million friends who could guide you through the thicket with their epic tales of success and failure. That's the idea behind OkTrends (blog.okcupid.com)

Re "You've got (paid) mail," editorial, March 15 You are dead wrong about AOL charging fees for mass e-mails. Serious activist organizations such as environmental groups, political bloggers and social reform groups, which do not have bottomless budgets as do corporations, porn sites and newspapers, will be affected. This will curtail what little freedom of speech and information is left. It will turn the Net into just another advertisement supplement, such as Sunday newspapers. FRANK STANTON Campbell

The Associated Press is trying to back out of an old media-new media fight that it didn't quite mean to pick. The 162-year-old news service will sit down with representatives of a bloggers group Thursday to devise guidelines allowing Internet commentators to use excerpts from AP stories and broadcasts. The AP provoked outrage in the blogosphere last week when it issued a blunt legal demand that the Drudge Retort, a small online news and commentary site, remove seven posts containing snippets -- all less than 80 words long -- from AP stories.

David SHAW has truly missed the point ["The Blog Squad Can Add Another Notch to its Belt," Feb. 20]. As an educator, parent and concerned citizen I am looking for truth, not opinions. Start asking the real questions and come up with some solutions! It's time for those in the world of publication to realize people like myself are fed up with all this foolishness. I have read some of those bloggers and found them to be insightful and refreshing. You can attack them, but the reason they are growing is because they meet the need of the times.